town of okegawa was lit up for the "O-MA-TSU-RI" or festival. All of
the women were wearing their kimonos and the men were wearing there
samurai stuffs. It was so cool! There were lots of fun traditions to
watch and it made me love asia even more! A building caught fire
next to church and created some excitement. I don't think anyone was
hurt. Me and Sister Brumley ran to the church parking lot and we
starred at the fire and were like. "SO.......what should we do? Should
we call the district leader?" :)) but then the bishop came around the
corner in his car and lots of the members showed up to make sure
everything was okay. The festival continued into the next day and we
had our english class but of course not a lot of people came because
of the festival. But one student Michiko, ALWAYS comes. She is not a
member but loves the missionaries and the members and is so kind! She
is always there for us. She actually just helped me and Sister Brumley
regulate all of the people coming into the church parking lot to park
their bikes for the festival. SHe was soooo funny! MIchiko started
chasing these high school boys to get them to come into the english
class and give them a church flier. She is like 70 years old and was
chasing them and saying in Japanese, "WHat are you in junior high!?
Come to the english class. THIS chURch IS SO AWESOME!!!" I love her.
Sister Brumley and I just watched her as she chased high school kids
down. It was awesome!
The other sisters are doing great and work really well together! Our
lessons are going upward and it is really wonderful. We are hoping to
set a baptismal date with Yoshimi this week. We taught her about how
to pray last week. We made a surprise visit to her house last
Wednesday and she brought us into her apartment and we sat on the
floor and played with little Hiroto. I LOVE THAT BOY. We talked with
her for a little while and she started to ask us more questions about
the church and she said she wanted to know how to pray. So we taught
her how and she was so excited! We told her of how Heavenly Father can
communicate with us through prayer and we can receive answers and feel
so much comfort when we do. It was so wonderful as we were sitting on
her apartment floor and she tried for the first time to pray. She
wrapped her arms around her little boy and said her first prayer and
it was so heartfelt. When she was done she looked up at us with a
light in her eyes. She seems to love the gospel and we want to set a
baptismal date with her in august. Sister Brumley and I were riding
away on our bikes so filled with the spirit. Sister Brumley said, "I
don't think we were teaching her anything, we were just helping her
remember all that she already knows!"
I went on exchanges this last week to Kawagoe and we woke up at 4:30
to go play soccer and softball with the single adults. IT was so fun.
I MISS SOCCER. I was going nuts on the field. I am one of the tallest
people so I was bulldozing the field. IT WAS SO FUN. OH and a new
sister who came into the field is working there. Her name is Sister
Reeder and she is best friends with Brooke Staples. I LOVE HER. She is
so cute and is such a wonderful sister missionary. We talk about how
funny our family is. Tell RIchard and Jennifer that Brooke's best
friend is okay!
I had my year mark!! WOOOO! SIster Brumley and I went to Mission
Leadership Council on that day and tons of really cool things are
happening. We got brand new pamphlets that will help us in teaching
people without a christian background and we are excited to put them
into action. I got to see Sister Kinghorn there and I saw Sister Clark
over skype (she is too far away to come down to tokyo, so they skype
the leaders up in Nigaata into the council) I love my companions!
I love you Mom. I love you Dad. AND I
LOVE YOU ALLL!!! Have a great week!
Love, SIster Staples!
Minami Shimai and I went on splits and went posting after church. She
talked to me all about her mission and she gave me a lot of good tips. I love her!
Shrine near the church.
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